The Architect of Time
by Jack Cross
Summary: A renegade Time Lord named the Architect is sent into exile on the Avatar World. Just when he thought his stay was going to be boring, he encounters dangers that are both terrestrial and not. It's a crazy time traveler and a teenage metalbender against the odds, what could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I'm here with what is officially my twenty fifth story. I've been a Dr. Who fan for a very long time, and I thought I'd give this crossover a try.**

 **I do not own Dr. Who or Legend of Korra in any way shape or form.**

All his life, Ben Jenkins had been a tinkerer of sorts. Locks, computers, kitchen appliances, he was always taking things apart to see how they worked. If he wasn't taking something apart to see how it worked, he was doing it to put something brand new together. That was his true passion in life. To build, to create.

Of course, if you looked at his current path in life, you wouldn't have guessed any of this in the slightest. The black haired, green eyed twenty two year old had been forced to drop out of college when the economy had tanked. He'd gotten a job at his home town's steel mill, but after two weeks that was claimed as well. Now he was stuck delivering pizzas, praying his next paycheck would contain enough for him to pay this month's rent.

He didn't bother asking his parents for help. They were suffering just as much as he was thanks to the economic state of things. Besides, his pride refused to let him go crawling back and asking for help until he had reached absolute rock bottom. So here he was, on his back and covered with grease while he wrapped a few wires together underneath the pizza restaurant's large oven.

Sweat poured down his face as he did his work, a pair of pliers clenched in his teeth. Anyone who looked in on his current position would have thought he was the hero out of an action movie, racing to defuse a bomb. He did his work like a professional, his skinny fingers twisting the wires about with skilled, practiced ease.

"Jenkins, what are you doing under there?" his boss barked, leaning down to see what the young man was doing.

"Coil three went out again," he replied, his words slightly garbled around the pliers in his mouth.

"Damnit. I'll have to get that looked at. Alright, hurry it up. We got a delivery going out," his boss said before strolling off. Ben spat the pliers out and let them fall onto his chest. He absolutely hated it when someone tried to rush him.

 _'Finish what you started, don't leave anything half assed.'_ He ignored the whisper in his mind like he always did. Hearing voices was a sure fire sign that you were crazy. Backlogging them only made things worse. Still, the low male whisper that always appeared at the back of his mind had yet to lead him astray. If anything, it had done nothing but give helpful advice since it had first appeared a few years ago.

Finishing up what he was doing, Ben pushed himself out from under the oven and brushed himself off. He quickly checked over the delivery before gathering up the pizza and taking it to his car. Shivering against the evening chill, he climbed into the cheep rust bucket he tried to pass off as a car, only for it to give a sluggish turn over when he turned the key.

 _'The engine isn't getting enough fuel for a proper start up.'_

"Yeah, like that's the only thing wrong with this hunk of junk," he muttered in response to the voice.

 _'So, you finally acknowledge the fact that I exist.'_ Ben blinked in surprise. The voice was talking back now. It was official, he was going crazy.

' _You're not going crazy. You've just finally opened your mind enough to begin to accept things you wouldn't have normally thought possible.'_

"I'm having a conversation with a voice in my head, that's the basic definition of crazy," he said out loud.

 _"I'm not in your head. Well, technically I am, but I'm not speaking to you from inside.'_

"Then who are you? Where are you?" Ben asked as he sat back in the seat. All thoughts about making the delivery were long gone.

' _Here._ ' The voice whispered, and Ben's eye was drawn to his wrist. A watch rested there, a round silver thing with no markings, bound to the inside of his left wrist by a simple leather strap. It was an odd thing for him to wear, given his age, the smart phone in his pocket, and the fact that he wasn't a hipster. The old thing had belonged to his dad, and his grandfather before him. It had been broken for years, but Ben had worn it out of centmental value.

"The watch?"

' _That's it.'_

"But…it's broken. Has been for years."

' _Is it?'_ Ben paused as he listened to the voice. Despite having it on or near him at all times, he couldn't actually remember a time when he had checked to see if the watch worked or not. Now curiosity had him in it's grasp as he slowly raised his right hand toward the plain silver lid.

 _'That's it, open it. Let me remind you of a universe beyond pizza delivery.'_ With that, the young man opened the watch. The car was filled with a brilliant golden light, and the human known as Ben Jenkins was no more.

* * *

He sat in the big old leather chair inside the antique shop, watching, waiting for the arrival he was sure was coming. The shop was closed, and it was nighttime out with the light from the street lamps shining inside. Not that he cared. He was tired, and he was waiting.

Blasted humans, always screwing things up. He'd tried to help them, give them a nudge in the right direction by introducing some new technology to a small group of them. But, as usual, someone with too much curiosity and not enough brains had gotten involved. Now everyone involved was dead, and here he sat, waiting.

Finally, the man he had been waiting for arrived. He wore a long brown trench coat over a blue suit. Greased dark hair rested atop his head as he entered the shop with a stony gaze and his hands in his pockets. He regarded the newcomer with a tired interest, as a lazy king might gaze upon a peasant in his court. The man strode across the shop to him before coming to a halt a few feet away.

"You're a hard man to track down, Alpha Sigma," the man said. Without changing his posture, the seated man, whom appeared to be younger, rolled his eyes.

"I call you by your chosen name, Doctor. It's only fair that you call me by mine," he replied. The Doctor swallowed and was silent for a moment.

"You're a hard man to track down, Architect," he said. The seated young man gave a ghost of a smile at that.

"I didn't try running that hard. What's the point in tiring myself out when it's YOU of all people chasing me," the Architect said.

"You've gone this long without me noticing you," the Doctor pointed out.

"Oh please. My first attempt to make some cash got me caught, it's not like I'm some mastermind at hiding," he said. The Doctor gave him a pointed look.

"You know what I mean," he said. The Architect seemed to squirm under his gaze.

"I wasn't there, at the end, alright? I know, I missed out."

"You ran," the Doctor said. It wasn't a question, it wasn't an accusation, just a statement of fact.

"Of course I ran. The Dalaks had broken through the defenses and were coming down on Gallifrey. There was only one thing left in the Vault, and it didn't take a genus to see that sooner or later someone was going to get desperate enough to use it. Which apparently, someone did," he said, giving the Doctor a look on the last part.

"I had no choice," the Doctor said as he looked away, more so to himself then to anyone around him.

"Ten million ships in the sky. The whole planet below. No, I don't suppose you did. But you're not here to talk about home, are you," he said.

"You tried selling twenty seventh century technology in the twenty first. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I was alone out here and was going to need currency to survive," the Architect defended.

"While running the risk of destabilizing the whole planet and throwing the entire timeline of the human race off course?"

"It was a hair drier for Christ's sake. By the time they realized what they had I would have been paid and long gone."

"Oh really, just a hair drier? What were you gonna do next? Introduce a telly in the Dark Ages? How about a pair of walkie talkies to Napoleon?"

"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you."

"You broke the laws of time, Architect," the Doctor said pointedly.

"There's no one left to enforce those laws, Doctor," he replied.

"There is me."

"Yeah. I suppose you're right there. So what are you gonna do? Execute me?"

"We're the only Time Lords left. I'm going to put you some place I can easily find you," the Doctor said. The Architect couldn't help but frown. He did not like where this was going.

* * *

"Exile, you're marooning me on a backwater planet, for a hair drier?!" the Architect screamed at the screen which rested on the console of his TARDIS. The control room was fairly simplistic in it's design. An elevated catwalk circled the central control panel. A single glass shaft with several interconnected rods rose from the console to the ceiling above. A few chairs which looked like they had been snatched from an airliner were scattered around the console.

The console itself was a disorganized collection of junk. Valves that looked like they had been stolen from a hardware store's pluming department, levers that looked like they came from the cab of a steam engine, a keyboard that seemed to have been ripped from a Windows 98 computer, and a flat screen computer monitor that had been slapped on the side of the column all made up the thing. In general it looked like it had all been welded together by an insane junk collector.

 _"I told you I need to keep an eye on you. And this seems like the perfect place to do it. Advanced enough that you'll be comfortable, but primitive enough that you can't whip anything up and cause trouble_." The Architect was about to make a retort when a shower of sparks suddenly erupted from the console. Everything shook violently as his craft made a deep shuttering noise. He grabbed the screen and looked over the readout written there in circular Gallifreyan.

"What are you doing?!"

 _"I'm locking down the controls of your TARDIS so you can't leave._ " More sparks, and an even more violent earthquake followed.

"Stop it, you're hurting her!" he screamed, feeling panic and fear in his hearts for his beloved machine.

 _"I'm sorry, but this is the only way to be sure."_ Another shift sent him flying backwards into one of the chairs. He held on as the machine gave out a loud grown, followed by yet another shower of sparks. Defiance suddenly filled his green eyes and he surged to his feet. Reaching into his pants pocket, he produced a simple black ballpoint pin. He pointed the rounded end at the console and pushed down on the clip that would have been used to hold the pen to a clipboard or a shirt pocket.

A buzzing noise filled the air as the pen's end lit up with a brilliant neon green. The Doctor may have been forcing this exile on him, but that didn't mean he had to take it laying down. He could and he would fight back, if only to save him some time on repairs he would no doubt have to make later. Sure enough, the violent shaking and spark throwing lessened, but only slightly.

Putting his sonic pen away, the Architect stumbled back to the controls and looked at the monitor. The spinning motion on the screen almost made him queasy with motion sickness. He watched, as all the readings indicated that he was falling uncontrollably toward a planet's surface. Turning a few valves and throwing a switch, he looked up at the pistoning columns in hopes that he would have a stable landing.

Instead, he was rewarded with everything suddenly falling toward one side of the room. It was only by sheer luck that he managed to grab ahold of the monitor and hang on for dear life. At first, he thought that the Doctor had gone so far as to disable his ship's gravity. However a quick look had him realizing that it had in fact rolled over during it's free fall, and due to reduced power the gravity was beginning to fail on it's own.

"I just want you to know," he said to the monitor as he stretched out a hand toward a lever, "You're a massive prick." With that, he managed to throw the switch before the ship shook again. He lost his grip, and was sent plunging into the lower decks, a yell on his lips as he went.

* * *

Seventeen year old Suyin Beifong kicked a stone into a tree as she walked. Her hands were stuffed into her pockets and her lips were firmly pressed together. The young woman was frustrated, and incredibly so. She'd just had another spat with her grandparents, and had slipped over the Estate wall in order to go for a walk to calm down.

Su had been sent here to live with her grandparents a year earlier, after an incident with the Terra Triad in Republic City had gone wrong and she had been arrested. Given the family wealth, Su had initially thought that this was going to be the equivalent of a lavish vacation. In reality, she found it to be more of a prison. She was never allowed outside of the Estate, allowed no friends, and was being taught a strict upper class set of behaviors.

So, on nights like tonight, she would slip over the wall, if anything to remind herself that there was still a world out there. Soon, she'd be old enough to strike out on her own, and then she'd be free to do what she wanted. No more stuffy dinner parties, no more family interference. But, that time had yet to come. So here she was, walking by the light of the full moon through the woods, kicking random stones as she went.

Suddenly, a fireball sailed overhead, smashing through the tree tops before crashing down over a nearby ridge. Su ducked, covering her head as burning sticks and splinters rained down around her. Looking up, she was greeted with an orange glow coming from over the rise, blocking out the silver light of the moon. Without a second thought, she took off up the ridge, eager to see what had come down.

Several of the trees were on fire, as was the grass and underbrush. In the middle of it all was a long trail of dirt that had been churned upward. At the end of the trail, instead of a red hot glowing hunk of space rock like she had expected, there was a rather large wardrobe laying on it's side.

It appeared to be aged, but well maintained, made of a finely oiled wood, likely oak. Su had seen several like these back at the Estate. Large enough for someone to walk into comfortably, and therefor hold tons of clothing. What held the young woman's interest was the fact that this thing was fully intact and didn't seem to have a scratch or a burn mark on it.

The impact alone should have splintered it into a million pieces, and if not, then the flames should have either incinerated it or turned it into a glowing bonfire by now. But, there it lay on it's side, like someone had just thrown it out and walked away.

Su slowly approached the wardrobe, avoiding the burning patches of grass and brush as she went. Her seismic sense didn't tell her if there was anything usual about it. Granted, it couldn't see beyond wood. But it didn't seem to weigh anymore then it should, and it wasn't giving off any unusual noises or vibrations.

At least, that's what she thought at first. As she got closer, she realized that she could both hear and feel the wardrobe giving off several noises and vibrations. The noises sounded metallic in nature, like the internal groaning one would expect to find in the bowels of a ship or a submarine. Suddenly the doors burst open, and a cloud of steam went skyward. Amber colored artificial light poured from inside the wardrobe, although from her angle, Su couldn't actually see inside.

A grappling hook sailed from inside the wardrobe before landing in the dirt. It skidded along the ground, being dragged back to it's point of origin before catching onto the wooden side. Firmly secure in place, the rope attached to the hook went taught, and the sounds of grunting a came from within. After a few moments, one hand appeared on the edge of the wardrobe, followed closely by a second. One of the hands appeared to have a streak of crimson on it, but in the light it was hard to tell.

A young man, to which the pair of hands belonged to, appeared over the side wardrobe and rolled down the open door on the ground. He was dressed strangely, a pair of blue jeans, a jacket with what appeared to be a camouflage pattern on it, and a pair of worn down work boots. Her observations didn't go much further then that as she realized that he was hurt.

He was clutching his side and groaning. Su realized that the red she had seen on his hand was blood from him trying to stop the bleeding. Looking down at his side, his face scrunched up in annoyed confusion.

"How did I miss that?" he asked himself. The young woman watched with horror as he pulled a rather large butcher's knife from his side, letting out a gasp of pain before he tossed it away into the night.

"Are you alright?" Su asked. He jumped at the sound of the new voice, but didn't go very far as he was still clutching his side.

"Oh, a local, hello! Yes, just a little disagreement with the kitchen is all," he replied.

"The kitchen?"

"Yeah, gravity stabilizers went out and I had a fall all the way down to kitchen. It's actually really painful to climb when you've been stabbed by steak knives," he said, patting the grappling hook tiredly. Su looked back and forth between him, the hook, and the wardrobe.

"You had mountain climbing gear in your kitchen?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, never know when you want to have an omelet with Tibetan monks." The teenager shook her head, not even attempting to understand what he was saying.

"Who are you?" she asked, rapidly getting the impression that this guy was full on insane.

"Oh! Introductions, right, sorry, I'm the Architect," he said, holding out a blood strained hand to shake. Su took a few steps backwards at that, causing the Architect to look down at his palm and realize his mistake. He tried to wipe his hand off on his shirt and jacket, but only succeeded in smearing red over the greens and browns.

"The Architect?" she questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Yep."

"Just that? Just 'The Architect'?"

"That's right. And you are?"

"Suyin, or Su if you prefer," she replied.

"Nice to meet you, Su," the Architect said before he fell back against the wardrobe. Slinging his free arm over edge of the doors, he peered down into the container. It was at this moment that Su realized that he was way more injured then he had initially let on. His clothes were torn in several places, and patches of red were beginning to form where there was severe bleeding.

"Are you sure you don't need to see a healer or something?" she asked. The Architect looked away from what he was looking at and peered down at his clothing.

"Ah, nothing to worry about. Everything I need is in here," he said, patting the side of the wardrobe fondly.

"What are you going to do, change your clothes?" He frowned at her words before leaning back to get a better look at the wardrobe he was leaning on. Taking a few steps backwards, his face went from frown to full on scowl.

"That son of a…he locked the chameleon circuits too. Took me six months to fix it last time, I'm going to kick his ass," he fumed, mainly to himself. Su's head was spinning. This guy was insane, he had to be. Or he was severely delirious from blood loss. Still, none of that explained the piece of furniture that had fallen out of the sky.

The Architect suddenly lost his balance and fell against the wardrobe again with a tired groan. Su started forward to help him, but he held up a hand, telling her to stay back.

"We really should get you to a healer," she said.

"I told you, everything I need is right here," he replied before letting out a gasp of pain. His body jerked in response, and he fell to the ground.

"I really think…"

"It's too late for a healer anyway, that last knife got my kidney. I'm bleeding out, both inside and out," he said.

"Listen, I'm an earthbender, I can get you back to town really quickly," she said, trying to convince him to let her help. However, he simply held up his hands, his palms facing her.

"Too late for that, it's already started," he said. Before she could ask what he meant, a faint golden glow appeared around his hands. The glow slowly worked it's way up to his head, covering his face as he slowly raised himself to his feet.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Been a while since I've done this. Only done it a couple of times before. I hope I get something decent this time," he said to himself before looking her dead in the eye, "you might want to stand back." Suddenly his face and hands flared with what Su could only describe as fountains of golden, liquid fire. She scrambled backwards, wondering what kind of firebending this was. The process was beautiful, yet violent.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the light stopped. The Architect shook his head, only, it wasn't the Architect. He was still wearing the same blood stained clothes, but it was an entirely different man. The new man standing before her had flame red hair, the same color as a shiny new penny.

His eyes were an icy blue color, and his face was slim and weathered. His overall body was broader then it had been before, making the clothes he was wearing seem to be about a size too small. He didn't appear much older then before, about early to mid twenties, and he was built like he worked out somewhat regularly.

"Right, sorry about that. Where was…" he paused with a frown on his face. His voice was about an octave higher then it use to be. Su watched, her mouth hanging open as he ran his tongue over his teeth inside his mouth.

"Mmm. Fillings are gone. That's going to take some getting use to. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, passing out," he said. With that, he dropped to the ground like a stone. Su looked around her, as if expecting someone to come stepping out of the night and tell her it was all a hoax or something. No one came. The small dying fires crackled, the wooden wardrobe was still strangely giving off metallic noises, but other then that the night was calm and quiet.

Something told her that she needed to walk away. Just turn around and head back to the Estate, pretend that she saw absolutely nothing tonight and keep her head down. But that wasn't what she listened to. Su was curious, and she was seeking adventure. That same gut feeling that told her to walk away also told her she could probably find what she was looking for with this strange guy and his glorified dresser.

"Su, this is going to come back to bite you, hard," she said to herself as she grabbed his arms and began to drag him through the woods.

 **And cut. That's a wrap on the first chapter. Let me know what you guys liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. I don't have much to say so let's get this show on the road.**

Su sat in the corner of her room, her head buried in her hands. On her bed lay the young man she had found in the woods, sleeping peacefully as if it was actually his bed all along. With a little help from her bending, Su had managed to get him back here to the Estate. However beyond flopping him on a bed and waiting for him to wake up, she had no idea what to do.

He was still in his torn, blood stained clothing, not that she had anything to change him into anyway. Besides, the conversation she was going to have with him when he did wake up was going to be strange and weird enough without having to explain why she had stripped him down while he was sleeping.

Taking a breath, she looked up at her sleeping guest. What was she suppose to say if her grandparents walked in here? She didn't know anything at all about the guy. He'd said his name was the Architect, and that was all she had gotten out of him before he'd pulled his little light show and passed out on her. Oh yeah, and there was the fact that he had literally morphed into an entirely different person before her very eyes. How was she suppose to explain THAT without being locked away in an asylum?

He suddenly sat up in bed, causing her to jump in surprise. His head jerked one way and then another as he quickly looked around the bedroom, trying to take is as much as possible as quickly as possible. Finally, those icy blue eyes settled on her. They narrowed slightly as he regarded her, as if he had briefly forgotten what her name was.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"My bedroom, in my grandparents place," Su answered.

"Right. And where is that?" he asked as he climbed out of bed and began to look around the room.

"Gaoling, the Earth Kingdom?" she provided, not entirely sure what he knew and what he didn't. After what she had seen so far, it wasn't that far fetched to determine that he wasn't from around here. The Architect opened the blind on her window slightly and peeked outside before he went back to looking around.

"Hm, sounds Asian. Are we anywhere near Space Shanghai?" he asked. Su just cocked her eyebrow in confusion.

"Do what now?"

"Never mind, evidently not," he said before he caught his reflection in a mirror. Hurrying over to it, and began to look his face over, running his hand over his jawline as he turned his head from one side to the other.

"Son of a bitch," he said with a hard frown, clearly not liking what he saw.

"What?"

"I'm GINGER!" he fumed, turning to face her while pointing at the mirror.

"Is that a bad thing?" Su asked, confused. Granted she had never really seen any hair color other then gray, white, brown, and black, but still, what was so bad about red? If she had to admit, she kind of liked it.

"Is that a bad thing? I'm a sun burning soul sucker now! Everyone's going to think I'm Irish and either ask me to dance or challenge me to some kind of drinking contest!" he ranted as he paced back and forth.

"Okay, I only understood, like, maybe two things out of that," Su said. The Architect stopped and let out a sigh, running his hands up and down over his face.

"I'm being childish," he said in a much more serious tone before he went over and sat at the foot of the bed.

"Who are you?" Su asked.

"I don't know yet. New face, new body, new everything. I've got to figure out what I like all over again," he answered.

"You have got to be the strangest man I have ever met," she said as she rubbed her temples. The Architect flashed her a small smile.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

"So what happened with you?" Su asked, deciding to press forward and try to get some answers.

"What makes you think something happened?" he asked.

"Wardrobe falls out of the sky, man falls out of the wardrobe with half a dozen stab wounds, man explodes fire and turns into an entirely different person. What makes you think something DIDN'T happen?" Su countered. He couldn't help but nod at her logic.

"Fair enough. I regenerated. It's a little trick my people developed in order to heal themselves," he explained.

"'Your people'? You mean like some long lost Fire Nation tribe?" Su asked.

"Um. No," he replied, rubbing the back of his head, "That wardrobe, by the way, where is it?"

"Last I checked, it was still in the same spot it landed."

"Right, come on, let's go," he said, starting toward the bedroom door. Su quickly grabbed his arm and stopped him. He gave her a questioning look.

"My grandparents are asleep and don't know you're here. I brought you in through the window," she explained. The Architect looked past her to the window, and then back to her again.

"Alright, the window then. Let's go."

* * *

Su couldn't believe her eyes as she stared down into the open doors of the wardrobe. It was simply impossible what she was looking at. An entire room, much larger then the entire wardrobe, was somehow stuffed inside the wardrobe. The Architect had taken off his jacket and was currently getting ready to climb down the rope into the wardrobe.

"Is the rest of this thing buried or something?" she asked as she looked closely at the places where the wardrobe met the dirt underneath. Without waiting for an answer, she raised her foot and stamped it down as hard as she could. Just like last time, she couldn't sense anything other then the wooden frame itself.

"Hey, you just going to stand there stomping your feet or you coming along?" the Architect asked before he took hold of the rope and jumped down into the wardrobe. Su's eyes went wide as she raced forward to the door's edge and looked down to see what had happened to him. What she found was the Architect, bracing himself against the glass pillar at the center of the room.

He was turning a few valves before leaning over at an awkward angle to look at the readouts on the screen. Overall, he looked like a hog monkey hanging off of a branch in an attempt to reach a mango.

"Alright, everything looks to be intact. Gravity, life support, everything's working," he called up to her.

"That's good, I guess," Su replied, not really understanding what he was talking about. The Architect flipped a few switches before looking at the screen again.

"The outer shell weighs the same as an average wardrobe, can you stand it upright?" he asked. Su stood back and looked over the wardrobe again. It didn't look like it weighed all that much, maybe a hundred pounds or so. Nothing an earthbender couldn't handle. Hopping back, she assumed a basic bending stance. With a simple thrust of her fist into the air, a small pillar of rock shot up under the wardrobe, prompting it to stand upright.

The Architect let out a yell of surprise from inside as he was thrown to the floor due to the console room righting itself out. With a smirk, Su strode up to the wardrobe doors like she owned them. He was sending a glare her way as he lay upside down with his back against the console.

"Little warning next time?"

"You wanted me to stand it upright," she said innocently. The Architect rolled his eyes before he stood and went back to the screen. A new look of annoyance crossed his face, and Su got the feeling that she wasn't the source of it this time.

"Damnit, I was right. He locked almost everything down," he said, mainly to himself.

"Hey, so since I helped you out and all, you think you could answer a couple of questions? Like, what is this place for starters?" Su asked as she walked a little ways into the console room and gestured around her.

"This is my ship. It's called a TARDIS, and yes, it's bigger on the inside, as you may have noticed," he answered without looking away from the screen.

"Yeah, I noticed that," she said, her voice a little softer now as she walked deeper into the room. The Architect cast a glance toward her before he went back to his work, circling the console as he turned a few knobs and flipped a few switches.

"It's not going to bite, you know, you can come in and relax a little," he said.

"Relax, right, don't really see that happening," she replied as she looked around the room.

"Eh, suit yourself," he said as he returned to the keyboard and began to rapidly type. Su frowned and made her way over to his side.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Scanning. I'm getting a layout of this system's timeline. If I'm going to be here a while, which it looks like I am, I'm not going to go into all this blind," he answered. Su watched as several images flashed across the screen, paintings, drawings, photographs, all of them being stared at intently by the Architect.

"System? What are you talking about?"

"This star system, this planet. I crash landed here, in case you didn't notice," he said, motioning toward the doors.

"Wait, are you saying you're not from this planet?"

"That's pretty much spot on, yeah," he replied.

"But…that's impossible," Su said.

"You're standing in a wardrobe that's bigger on the inside, and you still have the balls to say things are impossible?"

"Okay, fair enough. But in all the stories, Spirits and other things, they never look human," Su said.

"I don't look human, YOU look Time Lord, we came first," the Architect countered.

"Time Lord, eh? That's what you are? Don't think you're being a little pompous?" Su asked.

"Didn't choose it. Now then, on to more important things."

"Like?"

"Like part scavenging. The controls to this old thing are locked. With the way things are I can only travel a few centuries in either direction and as far as the moon. But, unlock the controls, and I can go anywhere in time and space," the Architect explained. Su fell silent as she digested what he was saying. She had been planning for so long now. The moment she turned eighteen, she was out the door, exploring the world and looking for her place in it.

But now, if this strange man was telling the truth, she had everything at her fingertips. All things considered she had no reason to doubt him. The wardrobe, this TARDIS as he had called it, that was proof enough. All they needed were the parts that he was missing.

"So, what do we need?" she asked. The Architect cocked his eyebrow at her, giving her a questioning look.

"We?"

"Yeah, we. I mean look at this place, it's gonna take you forever to pull this off by yourself," she said.

"It won't take that long, my name is the Architect, after all. I build things, it's what I do."

"You'll also need a local as your guide so you don't accidently get yourself killed," she pointed out. The Architect's lips firmed up at that. She had a point he couldn't deny, and as much as it bugged him, she was right.

"Alright, fine. Welcome aboard Ms…?" he trailed off as he realized that he didn't know her last name.

"Beifong. Suyin Beifong," Su said, sticking out her hand to shake. The Architect took it and shook it.

"Right. Let's get started."

 _Two Weeks Later._

The next two weeks passed by rather quickly. Su and the Architect had moved the wardrobe to a small abandoned shack on the edge of the Estate, where the Architect could work on it uninterrupted. He was making some progress, but it wasn't much more beyond the restoration of basic controls. The bigger stuff was going to require him to get more creative.

His eyes had nearly fallen out of his skull when he'd first seen Su earthbend. When he'd managed to recover somewhat from being utterly dumbstruck, he'd begun scanning the young woman, trying to figure out what exactly made her tick. Bending, as the locals called it, was something of a strange anomaly unique to this particular branch of humanity. The Architect had the basis of a theory which suggested that it was some kind of mutation. Only time, and a little research would tell.

It'd taken some effort on her part, but Su had managed to gain some ground on figuring out more about her new friend. He'd explained to her the situation around his exile, the Doctor, and what his plan was for moving forward. Currently, his long term plans didn't extend beyond repairing the ship. Once that was accomplished, he'd have all the time in the universe to figure out what to do next.

She had also managed to pry some personal information out of him over the past couple of weeks as well. Although he didn't say much, she was able to piece together that his people were called the Time Lords, and his home was called Gallifrey. Whenever he spoke of one of the two, he got a sad look on his face. Not the sadness of homesickness, she noticed, but rather the sadness of mourning. Something bad had happened, and the young woman knew better then to go prying when the time wasn't right.

Su strolled toward the shed with a bundle of white paper tucked under her arm. She'd gotten use to having her new friend around, even if she was bringing him food like a child to a secret pet. Opening the shed door, she stepped up to the wardrobe and gave a quick series of knocks. The door swung open, and she was greeted with strange music the likes of which she had never heard before.

' _Tell me, Doctor, where are we going this time?'_

 _'Is this the fifties, or nineteen ninety-nine?"_

 _'All I wanted to do, was play my guitar and sing.'_

 _'So take me away, I don't mind.'_

 _'But you better promise me, I'll be Back in Time.'_

 _'Gotta get Back in Time.'_

The Architect was hanging from the suspended walkway, wearing a set of welder's goggles as he applied a few touches to the upper part of the console column. Sparks flew everywhere, and the sound of electrical crackling came up over the music. He had changed his clothing, wearing a maroon button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up under a set of brown overalls.

"What are you listening to?" she called up to him as she closed the doors behind her, gaining his attention.

"Huey Lewis, it's good welding music," he replied as he moved his goggles to his forehead in order to get a better look at his handiwork.

"Sounds weird."

"Course it sounds weird, you've been listening to nothing but folk songs and swing all your life," he said before hopping down to the main floor. Su handed off the bundle to him, which he quickly opened and smelled.

"Oh, pork bun. Su you know the way to a man's hearts," he said, earning a smile from the young woman.

"So how's it coming along?" she asked, leaning onto the console and looking up at the glass column.

"I just got done putting the final touches on now, she's ready for short trips," he replied, despite the fact that his mouth was full of food.

"Alright! So, where to first?" Su asked with some excitement.

"Wherever you like, within reason," he answered. This took Su a little by surprise.

"You're letting me pick?

"Oh yeah. With these pork buns? I'd say you've earned the right to pick first," he said, holding up the pork bun he'd yet to finish. Su watched him eat as she carefully pondered where she wanted to go. On one hand, she wanted to put everything to the test and go thousands of years into the past, or maybe even the distant future. But on the other, she didn't want to put too much stress on the ship. She'd watched and helped the Architect spend the past two weeks put a lot of work into it, and she didn't like the idea of everything falling apart on the first try.

"Why don't we do something small, give it a test before we put too much stress on it," she suggested. The Architect's eyes went to the middle of his forehead as he liked his fingers, savoring the last bits of his meal.

"Hm. I suppose a short trip in time could work. How's thirty years into the future sound?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me," Su replied with a shrug. It dawned on her just how much she had gotten use to this over the past couple of weeks. If he had offered to take her thirty years into the future when she had first found the Architect in the woods, she would have buried him alive in a rockslide, or dragged him to the nearest insane asylum. Now, though, after spending all this time around him and the wardrobe, she was going to be very disappointed if they didn't actually travel in time.

The Architect gave her a sly grin as he began to flip a few switches and turn a few valves. She could see it in his eyes. He was just as excited as she was, if not more so, to see if the ship worked again. After pushing some buttons , he stood in front of the keyboard and began to type a series of coordinates. With this done, he took hold of a lever, but gave her one last look.

"This is it. No turning back," he said. Su simply gave him a grin of her own.

"Let's go," she said. The Architect pulled the lever, and instantly the whole console room began to shake. The glass pistons began to move, and the wheezing sound filled the air, like metal being scrapped against a metal wire. Su was unable to keep the wide smile off of her face as she balanced herself against the console. This was just the beginning, the first steps on her new journey. Goodbye Gaoling.

Hello Everything.

 **And like that, the adventure begins. What did you guys think? Read, review, PM, ask a question or ten, let me know what you liked or didn't like and I'll see you all next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, I'm back with a late chapter, but a chapter none the less. I had a mild case of writers block, but I was able to work past that with a little help from a friend of mine. And so, let's get into it, shall we?**

Su stepped out of the wardrobe and looked around her, a smile growing on her face. She was back in Republic City, her hometown. To be exact, she was standing in the heart of Republic City Park on a rather warm day. It was autumn, if the color of the leaves on the trees was to be believed. she gave a small twirl on the spot, savoring the feeling of being back after having been gone for a solid year.

"Ah, the city," the Architect said as he stepped out beside her.

"We moved, we actually moved!" she replied excitedly.

"Of course we moved, you think I'd do all that work just to lead you on?" he asked.

"No it's just…it's one thing to say it can happen, and it's another to actually see it with my own eyes," she explained. The red haired man simply gave her a smile. There was a twinkle in his eye, indicating that he enjoyed watching her have a good time. Su gave him a quick hug, which he happily returned.

"So where are we? Sorry, I mean WHEN are we?" she asked as they began to walk. The Architect rolled his eyes at that.

"I hate that trope. We're about thirty years in the future from when we left," he answered.

"It doesn't look that different from when I left," Su noted.

"Of course it doesn't. Thirty years isn't that much in the scope of the big picture," he said. At that moment, they rounded a bush and found themselves face to face with a massive poster depicting a man in a hood and mask. A protester with a bullhorn was standing in front of the poster, shouting at anyone who was passing by.

"Of course that all depends on what picture you're looking at."

"Non benders to action? What's he rambling about?" Su asked.

"You tell me, you're the local," he answered, folding his arms. Su realized that he was giving her a test, to see just how much she thought she knew.

"Well, there was some tension between benders and non benders when I left the city, but nothing to this scale," she said.

"That's Amon. He's a radical, using the current political climate to start a revolution," the Architect said with disinterest.

"So what are we gonna do about him?"

"Nothing. We're not here for him," the Architect said as he started to lead her away.

"Than what are we here for?" she asked as she hurried to catch up with him.

"Cooling rods. The Doctor fried the current set in the ship," he said.

"And these rods are important?"

"They keep the engines from overheating on long time jumps. If I wanna go any further then a few decades at a time without burning up then they're necessary," he said.

"And you expect to find that kind of technology here?" The Architect made a rocking motion with his hand.

"Kind of. You could say that I'm after parts of parts," he said.

"Parts of parts."

"That's right."

"And that would be…what?" Su asked, making a gesture with her hands to suggest that he give her more to work with.

"We're looking for a power source, a battery, something small enough to fit onto a glove," he said.

"And we're here because…"

"Because tonight is the first time it's unveiled to the public, and the only time I know of for certain where we can get one without anyone missing it," the Architect explained. Su picked up a newspaper from the top of a trashcan and glossed it over.

"That wouldn't have anything to do with the Pro Bending Finals, would it?" she asked. The Architect just gave her a knowing smile.

"Maybe, maybe not. What do you say? Care to go to the Finals tonight, Ms. Beifong?" he asked, extending his arm. Su smiled as she dropped the newspaper and slipped her arm through his.

"I'd love to, kind sir," she replied, earning a laugh from both of them.

* * *

"You know, when this game comes around again I should bet on it since I'm going to know who the winner is," Su said. They were sitting in the upper stands of the Pro Bending Arena, watching as the two teams were introduced.

"Time travel should never be used for monetary gain," the Architect said with seriousness in his voice and his arms crossed. Su just gave him a look.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Well, that's what the Doctor said anyway. But he's a big, fat hypocrite, so I say go nuts," he said. Su shook her head, but had a smile on her face none the less. As she looked around, she quickly realized that there were at least a pair of metalbending police officers stationed at every entrance. She frowned at the sight of the extra security.

While she didn't know what was suppose to happen tonight, the sight of the police was enough to make it clear that something was going to happen. There was also the way the Architect was sitting. Two weeks of being cooped up in the time machine with him had given Su a little insight into his mannerisms. Currently he was sitting back in his chair with his fist pressed against his lips, studying the entirety of the Arena before him.

Even if he acted like a goofball most of the time, there was always a cold, calculating nature to the Time Lord. There wasn't a doubt in Su's mind that if he wanted to, he could knock this entire place to the ground without even breaking a sweat. Then he'd rebuild it in less than a week, only bigger and better.

"Tell me, Su, if you were to put a bomb in here and want it to go off without hurting anyone, where would you put it?" he asked suddenly.

"Run that by me again?" she said with a blink, not sure if she had heard his out of the blue question correctly.

"You'd want it somewhere away from the people, but still in a place where everyone could see it and the message behind it," he continued on, mainly talking to himself at this point. Su looked around the Arena, and her eyes eventually settled on the platform where the two teams were currently slugging it out.

"How 'bout there?" she asked, pointing to the platform. The Architect looked to where she was pointing and gave her a smile.

"Excellent choice, well done. Let's go," he said before hopping to his feet.

"Go? Go where, we just got here," Su said, gesturing toward the game. The Architect held up his sonic pen.

"I picked up some signatures of explosives, we're going to go have a look," he said.

"You want to go TOWARD the explosives?" she asked in disbelief.

"You don't?"

"Normal people don't do that.

"Do you think for one second I'm normal people?" Su let out an irritated sigh before getting to her feet. The way she saw it, he'd get himself killed messing with something he shouldn't, unless she was there to watch his back. As they started to head down one of the exits, Su caught a flurry of color moving out of the corner of her eye.

Turning, she froze on the spot when she spotted two people standing not far away, watching the Match unfold. The man appeared to be in his late forties or so. Bald, with a goatee, and red and yellow airbending robes. Currently he was yelling at a bad call one of the refs had made. But it was the woman standing by his side that caught Su's attention.

A middle aged woman with graying hair and metalbender armor. Even after all this time, her hairstyle hadn't changed. Her piercing pale green made it clear she was still a no nonsense kind of person. What was new was the pair of scars that lined her right cheek. The last time Su had seen her, the bandages were in place.

"Lin?" she asked aloud, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Su?" the Architect asked, reappearing next to the young woman with a confused look on her face.

"That's my sister," she replied weakly, pointing toward the armored woman, who was giving her airbending companion an annoyed look. The Architect followed her line of sight and spied whom she was pointing at. A little color seemed to drain from his face as he realized who he was looking at.

"We need to go, now," he said, turning and taking Su by the arm in an attempt to drag her into the tunnel out of the arena. The young metalbender resisted, however.

"But…"

"Su, listen to me. Right now you are putting all of us in danger. If she sees you, if she RECOGNIZES you…"

"What, what could happen?" Su demanded.

"At best you might drive her insane. At worst you could throw the entire timeline out of whack."

"But you're the one who just told me to 'go nuts' when it comes to this stuff," she defended.

"It's one thing to make a little cash on the side, it's another to intentionally screw with time like this. This is dangerous, for everyone involved. Now come on, we need to go before she sees you."

"But…"

"Su, how would you react if you suddenly saw a five year old version of your sister just appear out of the blue?" he asked.

"I…I don't…"

"Exactly, and neither will she. Lin Beifong is too important to the course of the timeline to be suddenly rendered to a nut house. Now LET'S GO," he said, putting extra stress on his words. Reluctantly, Su let herself be dragged away. However she moved like she was walking in clay, being more dragged than anything.

"Wait, you know about my sister? You know what happens to her?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What about me, do you know what happens to me?"

"Yes. I did my research, I'm not an idiot," he snipped.

"So, what does happen to me? What do I become?" she asked.

"I can't tell you that."

"Can't? Or won't?" she questioned.

"Both."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because knowing too much about your own future is dangerous. Even you seeing your sister tonight is risky," the Architect said as he pushed open a door into a service passageway.

"But why?"

"Unbelievable. Here we are in the middle of an historic event and your main focus right now is the basics of time travel?" he asked, annoyed.

"This hasn't happened for me yet. It's all still new so excuse me if I'm a little slow on the up keep," Su replied. The Architect let out a sigh as they came to a halt before a set of metal doors.

"It's dangerous because people who know too much try to change things. They can alter time in dangerous ways, bring about things that shouldn't happen," he said.

"And you know what's suppose to happen and what's not?" she asked, doubt clear in her voice. For a moment, he looked sad and tired, as if a massive burden rested on his shoulders.

"That's how I see time, Su. That's how all Time Lords see time. What has been, what can be, what should happen, what must not. All of it," he said, raising his Sonic Pen. With a click, the doors swung open for them.

"There that is again. Time Lord. Is that a title or a species?" she asked as they began to hurry forward again.

"Both."

"Bit of a pompous bunch, aren't you?"

"Well, there's only a few of us left, so I'd say that we've earned that right," he replied. Su couldn't help but frown, not only at his words, but at the way he was walking now. It was clear that he was hurting.

"What do you mean 'only a few left'?" she asked, her voice softer now. The Architect had come to a halt and was peeking around another corner. A single guard stood at the far end of the hallway before another set of doors. The guard, male, judging by what anatomy could be made out, was wearing a large gas mask and dark gray clothing.

Leaping out from behind her companion, Su brought her hands outward and than pulled them back in to her chest like she was pulling someone in for a hug. Before the guard could react, one of the doors behind him was ripped from it's hinges and wrapped around him like it was made of paper. The door ball didn't give much more than a thud as it hit the concrete floor.

"Whoa. Nice work," the Architect said before starting forward again.

"You didn't answer my question. What do you mean 'only a few left'?" she asked as she hurried after him.

"Because I'm on the endangered species list, alright? You can count on one hand how many Time Lords there are left in existence," he said.

"What happened?"

"War. A war happened. Everyone died. Our planet burned," he explained. Something of a morbid curiosity had ahold of Su now. This was the first time in the past couple of weeks that he had talked about where he had come from. She was conflicted. Part of her wanted to more, and part of her wanted to drop the topic because it was obviously painful for him.

"This way," the Architect said, holding up his Sonic Pen like it was a flashlight and rounding a corner. Only to walk straight into a pair of guards wearing the same outfit as the guy they had just cocooned in the door behind them. The two pairs stared at each other in stunned silence.

"I don't suppose you know where the bomb is, do you?" the Architect asked, looking between the newcomers and his Pen. The two responded by falling into fighting stances. Su responded in kind, bracing herself for a fight. Rather than follow suit, the Architect raised his free hand as if to surrender.

"Hey now, there's no reason for that," he said.

"Are you serious right now? You want to negotiate?" Su asked. A cool, confident grin graced her companion's face.

"Who said anything about negotiating?" he asked before pressing a button on the side of his pen. The device buzzed, and much to Su's shock the glass in the goggles on the gas masks the guards were wearing shattered. Instantly, the two fell back, their hands flying to their faces as tiny shards of glass fell into their eyes.

The Architect wasted no time, grabbing Su by the hand and dragging her along, past the screaming men. By now, the noises of the match that had been echoing overhead had shifted, turning into screams of terror as something else began to happen. Luckily, this meant that anyone else down here would mistake the screams of pain from the guards as those from the spectators above.

Finally, they arrived in a large room that was built around the skeletal frame of a freight elevator. There were no guards visible, leaving them to look about without fear of being attacked. Walking up to the frame, Su delivered a hard punch into the metal, feeling the vibrations with her eyes closed.

"We're right under the Ring," she reported without opening her eyes.

"Do you feel anything out of place?" the Architect asked as he began to look around, holding his Pen up as he scanned the room.

"Yeah, there's several bundles not made of metal lining the elevator shaft," she said.

"That would be the explosives," he said as he focused on a nearby wooden crate.

"So, what do we do? Disarm them?"

"Nope." Su opened her eyes and looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"We're not here for them," he said as he tore the lid off the crate and held up a glove shaped device, "we're here for this."

"But…but.."

"Those charges are placed in such a position, the only thing they'll damage is the platform above them. They're in the best possible place we could want them. Move them and we risk blowing ourselves up, not to mention causing more harm than good," he explained.

"Then why the hell did we come all the way down here, looking for explosives, if we were after a glove?" Su asked, her frustration clearly building now.

"I needed to get one of these things without someone realizing it was gone. I figured this would be the best place to find one." The metalbender let out a huff, but otherwise clenched her teeth in frustration.

"We should leave," she muttered, to which the Architect nodded in agreement. Without saying anything, the two trotted back in the direction they had come from. Not long after they left the room, the deafening sound of an explosion left their ears ringing, and the entire hallway shook from the force of the blast.

Su wasn't sure what she felt about all of this. The only thing she could make out from most of the chaos around her was that this was a conflict between benders and non benders. Beyond that, she didn't have a clue as to which factions were which, who wanted what, or anything really. Even the few guards she had fought this evening were something of a mystery, which she figured was kind of the point based on their attire.

She didn't get a chance to continue her thoughts, as they rounded another corner straight into a pair of metalbending police officers.

"Hey, what are you two doing down here?" one of them asked.

"Uh…"

"They got one of those gloves, they must be Equalists," the second cop said, pointing to the glove in the Architect's hand.

"Wait a second…"

"Drop the weapon and put your hands on your head!" the first cop ordered. To Su's continued surprise, the Architect did as he was instructed, dropping the glove and placing his hands on top of his red hair.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she muttered as she followed his example, and both of them were bound with cables.

* * *

They sat in the holding cell for so long that Su lost track of time. It could have been hours, it could have only been ten minutes. She didn't know, and she really didn't have a way of knowing. Why the Architect had chosen to surrender to the police rather than just slip past like he had everyone else was beyond her. Just another action in a long list of things that didn't make sense.

"I'm tired of getting people killed," the Architect said in a soft voice as he laid on the bench next to her. She looked down at him, not fully sure she had heard him correctly.

"Huh?"

"You were wondering why I let us get locked up in here. I'm tired of people getting killed because of my actions," he explained.

"You going to elaborate, or am I just be left guessing until we have another heart to heart?" Su asked.

"I chose the name Architect because I wanted to build, to create. I made cities that could float on clouds, ships that could sail on starlight and time itself. But when it came apparent that war was coming, my focus was shifted to weapons."

"You feel guilty because your devices and inventions got people killed," she said.

"It's not that small. Whole galaxies were lost because of my designs. In the end, all of that death, none of it mattered," he said.

"What was this war about, anyway?"

"At the dawn of time, my people emerged to keep watch over the various races of the universe. Looking down, watching, but never interfering. Until a race known as the Dalaks rose up and threatened all of creation with their hatred and all consuming need for war. We fought them all across the stars and across time, and we lost. Everyone involved lost, wiped out by the Moment," he explained.

"The Moment?"

"A weapon so powerful it grew a conscience of it's own. It's all gone now. My home, my family, my friends. All of it, lost in fire," he continued. The sound of the cell door opening caused the Architect to sit up slightly and see who was coming in to greet them. He sat up fully when he realized who it was. Standing in the entrance to the cell was Lin, her arms folded across her chest as she regarded the two of them with a cold look.

"Oh, crap…" he muttered to himself. Much to their surprise, Lin tossed Su the glove that had been taken from them earlier. The young metalbender looked down at the weapon, and then back up at her elder sister, confusion clear on her face.

"I'm guessing you two need that," she said.

"Yes, but, how?" Su asked.

"This isn't the first time I've met you two. Every couple years or so it seems you pop up. I learned a long time ago it's much easer just to hand over what you're after and be done with it," Lin said.

"Ah, time travel. This isn't the first time she's met us," the Architect explained.

"My head hurts," Su said.

"Oh don't worry, it only gets worse from here. Now get out of here, before I come to my senses," Lin said, standing aside and leaving the door wide open. The two companions looked at each other before standing and heading out of cell. As she went to pass, Su paused briefly and looked at her sister.

"I…thank you," she said.

"Go," came the reply, without Lin even returning her gaze. Su frowned, but hurried after the Architect regardless.

"She didn't seem very happy to see us," she noted when she had caught up with him.

"I don't know. That's the funny thing about time travel, there's a good chance you won't meet people in the right order of events," he replied.

"So, what happens now?"

"Now, we get started on what we came here to do. This is just the start," the Architect said as he tossed the glove in the air and catch it again.

 **And cut. Ah time travel, ain't that a kick in the head. Or the balls. Usually both. Anyway, I'd like to take this moment to give a special shout out to my friend Shadow-Proclamation8. He's been really good with bouncing ideas off of and coming up with ones on his own, and he's been patient enough to hear me out whenever I get a new hair brained idea. So Shadow, this one's to you. remember to review, PM, or ask questions or whatever, and I'll see you all next time.**


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